A/N: Hi! Thanks to all who reviewed chapter 9. My goal is to get over 50 reviews and you're certainly helping me on my way. Hope you like this one. Enjoy!
****
Emerald Flame
Chapter 10
****
****Hermione's POV****
I woke on Valentines Day to find a bouquet of yellow roses on my nightstand. I sat up and checked the tag, smiling when I saw Draco's name on it. We had continued dating after the Yule Ball, switching nights around the lake with Eliza and Harry or walking through the Hogwarts garden. It had been raining hard nearly every night lately so the flowers were in full bloom. The people that had caught us kissing during the Yule Ball had kept their promises. No one else knew about Draco and I, although Ginny tried using it for blackmail a few times over…
I got dressed and headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast. I just stayed a second to grab two apples and rushed up to the Room of Requirement. Draco turned and looked at me when I walked in. He smiled as I threw one of the apples at him and sat down in the chair next to him.
"Thanks," He said, biting into the apple and getting up to look along the row of books along the wall, "Is the Hogsmede trip still scheduled for today or is it raining too hard?"
"It's raining too hard," I shrugged slightly.
"So that means the walk around the lake is off as well?" He looked back at me.
"Well, unless you want to swim the whole way…"
"If it's with you, I'll do anything…" He looked up and smiled at me. I returned the smile while my face turned red. His smile widened when he saw me blushing and a small laugh escaped his lips.
"And what's so funny?" I asked, standing up and putting my hands on my hips.
He crossed the room and stood in front of me, the smile still playing on his face.
"You," He said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Really?" I matched his grin with my own as I looked up at him. He just nodded and kept staring at me. I nodded back, but then I threw myself at him and we started another tickle war. We had gotten into five wars since the first night in the Room of Requirement, and Draco had won them all. But, I kept starting them because it was the only time I really heard him laugh. Normally he just had that small smile across his face. He won this time as well, and we both sat on the floor, grins still on our faces. We just sat there, not talking until a knock on the door shattered the silence. We looked at each other disbelievingly. No one had EVER knocked on the door. No one. Without waiting for someone to answer, Eliza burst in.
"You're never going to believe this!" She started, but then stopped and looked at us sitting side by side on the floor, our hair messy and our faces red.
"You two weren't doing the Nasty, were you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and pointing at us.
"No!" I said immediately, standing up while Draco suddenly started laughing uncontrollably.
"So -anyways-," Eliza started again after looking at Draco, who was still on the floor laughing, "The Ravenclaw Head, that Marie O'Conner girl, apparently her father is on the Hogwarts Council and he got the others to vote for her for Head Girl, 'cause you know the Council chooses who becomes Heads, so he bribed them and now that he got found out Marie got kicked out and guess who's the new Head now?"
"Um…You?" Draco had finally stopped laughing and was looking at Eliza with a look of wonderment on his face, surprised she could say all that in just one breath.
"How'd you guess?" Eliza had calmed down slightly and became her old sarcastic self in an instant, "So have you seen Harry? I still need to tell him."
"Um…Try his room or the Library," I answered, "He might be there…Or maybe he got the shift to check around the castle…I hope not, he'll have to use a boat to get around…"
"Thanks," She said, "See you later!"
She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Draco and I alone again.
"That was interesting," Draco said after a moment of silence. I glanced at him and started to giggle.
"I've never seen her act so exited," I said once my giggles had died down.
"She acted like that when she got a crup for her fifth birthday," He said, picking himself up off the floor and slumping into a chair.
"How would you know?" I asked him.
"She lived in the mansion next to mine," He answered, shrugging slightly, "We've known each other since we were born."
"She never told me that," I said, sitting on the arm of Draco's chair.
"She thought it might piss Harry off if he know she was my friend, so she didn't tell anyone."
He reached up and put a hand on my back, gently moving it up and down along my spine. I shivered slightly. I looked down at him and smiled.
"I haven't thanked you for the flowers yet, have you?" I asked him. An impish grin spread across his face.
"No," He answered, "You haven't."
"Really…"
He pulled me down into his lap and my smile grew wider. He leaned forward to give me a kiss, but another knock on the door stopped us. Draco groaned and slumped backwards as I got up out of his lap.
"Oh yes," He muttered to himself, "They just -decide- to visit -today-…"
I let out a laugh and opened to door. To my surprise, Harry stood there, soaking wet and out of breath.
"Harry!" I cried as he slumped sideways against the doorframe.
"Where's Eliza?" He asked, pushing himself back and shaking his hair out of his face.
"In either the Library or the Common Room," I said faintly, "Harry, what happened to you?"
"Yeah Potter," Draco walked up behind me, "You don't look so well…"
"Both of you go to Dumbledore's office," Harry said quickly, looking around, "He'll explain it."
With that said he ran off down the hall and Draco and I glanced at each other once before we started to run down the five floors to Dumbledore's office. We made it and were surprised to find the rest of the Heads (minus Harry and Eliza) standing around the gargoyle, talking in hushed whispers.
"So what's going on?" Terry asked us when we ran up, "Why did Potter call us all here?"
"I have no idea," I answered as Draco shrugged beside me. A second later Harry ran up with Eliza behind him. He shoved past us all and ran up to the gargoyle.
"Fawks," He managed to gasp. The gargoyle jumped forward and allowed all of us to pile on the moving staircase. Harry just sprinted up the stairs to reach the door quicker and, with a quick glance at each other, we all followed. The door was already open when we reached it, so we just walked in. Harry was sitting on the edge of Dumbledore's desk with Dumbledore standing next to him. We all filed in and stood in front of the two, waiting for one of them to explain to us why we were called there.
"I suppose you're all wondering why you were called here," Dumbledore said, nearly reading our minds. Everyone nodded and glanced at each other.
"Well," Dumbledore glanced over at Harry, who looked down at his feet and crossed his arms over his chest, "As you know, the threat of Lord Voldemort--"--A gasp went around the room--"has been growing over the last seven years. He has had his eyes set on conquering this school since he came back into power, and now that fear must be realized because he is now closer to achieving this goal than he has ever been before."
Another gasp went around the room and whispers broke out among the group.
"How?" Draco asked, growing even paler than usual.
"Apparently," Dumbledore said gravely, "While on his check around the castle, Mr. Potter here was confronted by several Death Eaters and managed to get away just as he saw Lord Voldemort emerge from the Forbidden Forest."
"So does that mean…" Hannah whispered.
"I am afraid that Voldemort is hiding in the Forest, and he may be poised to attack."
****Draco's POV****
We left and went our separate ways. Harry and Eliza headed off to the Common Room, holding hands and talking in hushed whispers while Hermione and I headed down to the Great Hall. Dinner wasn't fully over yet, so we decided we might as well grab something to eat before we went back to the Room of Requirement. We were stopped at the door however, when Pansy and her gang came out.
"So the rumors are true then, Draco dear," She smirked at me.
"And what rumors would that be?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow.
"That you're dating a Mudblood."
I glared at her as my hands clenched as much as they would allow with my arm in the way.
"So it's true," She crowed, "Apparently that beating you're father gave you didn't do anything for you."
My head snapped up and my glare intensified.
"It's a shame, really," Pansy shifted her weight onto one leg and put a hand on her hip, "I would've done -so- much better."
I still kept my silence, but I dropped my hands to my side and felt myself subconsciously get ready to pounce. Hermione glanced over to me and reached out to touch my arm.
"C'mon Draco," She said softly, "Let's go…"
I looked over to her and saw the pleading look in her eyes. I nodded and unclenched my fists. We walked past Pansy and were about to walk into the Great Hall when Pansy yelled at me.
"You'll end up just like him, you know!" She screeched at me, "You'll end up hurting her just like he hurt you! You'll end up just like him, you already -are- just like him!"
I turned slowly to face her. My hands had clenched again and I raised a fist to punch her. Just as I was about to lunge and beat Pansy's face in, but Hermione's scream stopped me when my fist was only an inch away from Pansy's nose.
"See?" She smirked at be, never flinching, "I told you."
She turned swiftly with her gang behind her and headed off somewhere. I stared after her, dumbstruck, for a moment before I turned and punched the stone wall four times. I only stopped when I felt something crack and realized it was my finger breaking. I couldn't feel the pain yet, but I knew it would come. It always came. I held my fist against the wall for a second before I looked over to Hermione. She had a hand up to her mouth and looked like she was about to cry.
"Draco…" She whispered. I saw the hurt in her eyes, and immediately punched to wall again.
"Christ!" I whispered angrily at myself before turning and stalking towards the doors that led to the grounds. At the moment, I didn't care if it was raining. I didn't care if Voldemort was just outside to boundaries of the school. All I cared about was that I had hurt Hermione by hurting myself and my father's eyes, the same shade as my own, filled with hate.
"Draco!" Hermione called after me.
"Stay away…" I growled. I didn't have to look at her to know I had hurt her yet again. I felt a hot wave of hate wash over me, but it soon went away when I stepped out into the cold rain. I sighed and walked forward until I could barely see the lights of the Great Hall. I stopped and stood still, concentrating on the rain beating on the back on my neck. I just stood there, slowly getting soaked through, until a cold voice I knew only to well broke me out of my trance.
"Hello, son," Lucius said coldly, "How have you been?"
****
A/N: Okay, I'm going to leave it there. Chapter 11 to come soon. Please review.
****
Emerald Flame
Chapter 10
****
****Hermione's POV****
I woke on Valentines Day to find a bouquet of yellow roses on my nightstand. I sat up and checked the tag, smiling when I saw Draco's name on it. We had continued dating after the Yule Ball, switching nights around the lake with Eliza and Harry or walking through the Hogwarts garden. It had been raining hard nearly every night lately so the flowers were in full bloom. The people that had caught us kissing during the Yule Ball had kept their promises. No one else knew about Draco and I, although Ginny tried using it for blackmail a few times over…
I got dressed and headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast. I just stayed a second to grab two apples and rushed up to the Room of Requirement. Draco turned and looked at me when I walked in. He smiled as I threw one of the apples at him and sat down in the chair next to him.
"Thanks," He said, biting into the apple and getting up to look along the row of books along the wall, "Is the Hogsmede trip still scheduled for today or is it raining too hard?"
"It's raining too hard," I shrugged slightly.
"So that means the walk around the lake is off as well?" He looked back at me.
"Well, unless you want to swim the whole way…"
"If it's with you, I'll do anything…" He looked up and smiled at me. I returned the smile while my face turned red. His smile widened when he saw me blushing and a small laugh escaped his lips.
"And what's so funny?" I asked, standing up and putting my hands on my hips.
He crossed the room and stood in front of me, the smile still playing on his face.
"You," He said simply, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Really?" I matched his grin with my own as I looked up at him. He just nodded and kept staring at me. I nodded back, but then I threw myself at him and we started another tickle war. We had gotten into five wars since the first night in the Room of Requirement, and Draco had won them all. But, I kept starting them because it was the only time I really heard him laugh. Normally he just had that small smile across his face. He won this time as well, and we both sat on the floor, grins still on our faces. We just sat there, not talking until a knock on the door shattered the silence. We looked at each other disbelievingly. No one had EVER knocked on the door. No one. Without waiting for someone to answer, Eliza burst in.
"You're never going to believe this!" She started, but then stopped and looked at us sitting side by side on the floor, our hair messy and our faces red.
"You two weren't doing the Nasty, were you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and pointing at us.
"No!" I said immediately, standing up while Draco suddenly started laughing uncontrollably.
"So -anyways-," Eliza started again after looking at Draco, who was still on the floor laughing, "The Ravenclaw Head, that Marie O'Conner girl, apparently her father is on the Hogwarts Council and he got the others to vote for her for Head Girl, 'cause you know the Council chooses who becomes Heads, so he bribed them and now that he got found out Marie got kicked out and guess who's the new Head now?"
"Um…You?" Draco had finally stopped laughing and was looking at Eliza with a look of wonderment on his face, surprised she could say all that in just one breath.
"How'd you guess?" Eliza had calmed down slightly and became her old sarcastic self in an instant, "So have you seen Harry? I still need to tell him."
"Um…Try his room or the Library," I answered, "He might be there…Or maybe he got the shift to check around the castle…I hope not, he'll have to use a boat to get around…"
"Thanks," She said, "See you later!"
She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Draco and I alone again.
"That was interesting," Draco said after a moment of silence. I glanced at him and started to giggle.
"I've never seen her act so exited," I said once my giggles had died down.
"She acted like that when she got a crup for her fifth birthday," He said, picking himself up off the floor and slumping into a chair.
"How would you know?" I asked him.
"She lived in the mansion next to mine," He answered, shrugging slightly, "We've known each other since we were born."
"She never told me that," I said, sitting on the arm of Draco's chair.
"She thought it might piss Harry off if he know she was my friend, so she didn't tell anyone."
He reached up and put a hand on my back, gently moving it up and down along my spine. I shivered slightly. I looked down at him and smiled.
"I haven't thanked you for the flowers yet, have you?" I asked him. An impish grin spread across his face.
"No," He answered, "You haven't."
"Really…"
He pulled me down into his lap and my smile grew wider. He leaned forward to give me a kiss, but another knock on the door stopped us. Draco groaned and slumped backwards as I got up out of his lap.
"Oh yes," He muttered to himself, "They just -decide- to visit -today-…"
I let out a laugh and opened to door. To my surprise, Harry stood there, soaking wet and out of breath.
"Harry!" I cried as he slumped sideways against the doorframe.
"Where's Eliza?" He asked, pushing himself back and shaking his hair out of his face.
"In either the Library or the Common Room," I said faintly, "Harry, what happened to you?"
"Yeah Potter," Draco walked up behind me, "You don't look so well…"
"Both of you go to Dumbledore's office," Harry said quickly, looking around, "He'll explain it."
With that said he ran off down the hall and Draco and I glanced at each other once before we started to run down the five floors to Dumbledore's office. We made it and were surprised to find the rest of the Heads (minus Harry and Eliza) standing around the gargoyle, talking in hushed whispers.
"So what's going on?" Terry asked us when we ran up, "Why did Potter call us all here?"
"I have no idea," I answered as Draco shrugged beside me. A second later Harry ran up with Eliza behind him. He shoved past us all and ran up to the gargoyle.
"Fawks," He managed to gasp. The gargoyle jumped forward and allowed all of us to pile on the moving staircase. Harry just sprinted up the stairs to reach the door quicker and, with a quick glance at each other, we all followed. The door was already open when we reached it, so we just walked in. Harry was sitting on the edge of Dumbledore's desk with Dumbledore standing next to him. We all filed in and stood in front of the two, waiting for one of them to explain to us why we were called there.
"I suppose you're all wondering why you were called here," Dumbledore said, nearly reading our minds. Everyone nodded and glanced at each other.
"Well," Dumbledore glanced over at Harry, who looked down at his feet and crossed his arms over his chest, "As you know, the threat of Lord Voldemort--"--A gasp went around the room--"has been growing over the last seven years. He has had his eyes set on conquering this school since he came back into power, and now that fear must be realized because he is now closer to achieving this goal than he has ever been before."
Another gasp went around the room and whispers broke out among the group.
"How?" Draco asked, growing even paler than usual.
"Apparently," Dumbledore said gravely, "While on his check around the castle, Mr. Potter here was confronted by several Death Eaters and managed to get away just as he saw Lord Voldemort emerge from the Forbidden Forest."
"So does that mean…" Hannah whispered.
"I am afraid that Voldemort is hiding in the Forest, and he may be poised to attack."
****Draco's POV****
We left and went our separate ways. Harry and Eliza headed off to the Common Room, holding hands and talking in hushed whispers while Hermione and I headed down to the Great Hall. Dinner wasn't fully over yet, so we decided we might as well grab something to eat before we went back to the Room of Requirement. We were stopped at the door however, when Pansy and her gang came out.
"So the rumors are true then, Draco dear," She smirked at me.
"And what rumors would that be?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow.
"That you're dating a Mudblood."
I glared at her as my hands clenched as much as they would allow with my arm in the way.
"So it's true," She crowed, "Apparently that beating you're father gave you didn't do anything for you."
My head snapped up and my glare intensified.
"It's a shame, really," Pansy shifted her weight onto one leg and put a hand on her hip, "I would've done -so- much better."
I still kept my silence, but I dropped my hands to my side and felt myself subconsciously get ready to pounce. Hermione glanced over to me and reached out to touch my arm.
"C'mon Draco," She said softly, "Let's go…"
I looked over to her and saw the pleading look in her eyes. I nodded and unclenched my fists. We walked past Pansy and were about to walk into the Great Hall when Pansy yelled at me.
"You'll end up just like him, you know!" She screeched at me, "You'll end up hurting her just like he hurt you! You'll end up just like him, you already -are- just like him!"
I turned slowly to face her. My hands had clenched again and I raised a fist to punch her. Just as I was about to lunge and beat Pansy's face in, but Hermione's scream stopped me when my fist was only an inch away from Pansy's nose.
"See?" She smirked at be, never flinching, "I told you."
She turned swiftly with her gang behind her and headed off somewhere. I stared after her, dumbstruck, for a moment before I turned and punched the stone wall four times. I only stopped when I felt something crack and realized it was my finger breaking. I couldn't feel the pain yet, but I knew it would come. It always came. I held my fist against the wall for a second before I looked over to Hermione. She had a hand up to her mouth and looked like she was about to cry.
"Draco…" She whispered. I saw the hurt in her eyes, and immediately punched to wall again.
"Christ!" I whispered angrily at myself before turning and stalking towards the doors that led to the grounds. At the moment, I didn't care if it was raining. I didn't care if Voldemort was just outside to boundaries of the school. All I cared about was that I had hurt Hermione by hurting myself and my father's eyes, the same shade as my own, filled with hate.
"Draco!" Hermione called after me.
"Stay away…" I growled. I didn't have to look at her to know I had hurt her yet again. I felt a hot wave of hate wash over me, but it soon went away when I stepped out into the cold rain. I sighed and walked forward until I could barely see the lights of the Great Hall. I stopped and stood still, concentrating on the rain beating on the back on my neck. I just stood there, slowly getting soaked through, until a cold voice I knew only to well broke me out of my trance.
"Hello, son," Lucius said coldly, "How have you been?"
****
A/N: Okay, I'm going to leave it there. Chapter 11 to come soon. Please review.